Another Way
by mydoctortennant
Summary: Revision of 3x02


A whole year they had been looking for her. Man after man risked to find the Ward of the King of Camelot. He wasn't going to rest until she was found, sending out his only son and heir to find her. A girl many considered the daughter of Camelot. Little did they know how right they were.

When Merlin clapped eyes on her walking out of the mist between the trees of the forest, a weight was lifted from his shoulders; they'd found her. It was quickly replaced by another; what would see say? Did she remember? What had Morgause told her? Did she know about him? So many questions fought for attention in his mind. He pushed them all aside. This should be a happy moment. They found her.

He couldn't take his eyes off of her as they rode back. Arthur had done nothing but prattle on at him all the way back. He too was glad that their search was over.

On reaching the courtyard a Knight of Camelot carried a weary Morgana up the steps towards her chambers, still in the very condition they had been in the day she left. Merlin couldn't help but keep his gaze on her. She hadn't said a word the whole journey home but that wasn't to mean she wouldn't start now.

"You can bring my supper to my chambers," Arthur began, watching the knight carry Morgana into the castle, "then get the horses groomed and fed, after you've mucked out the stables," he noticed his manservant's gaze; transfixed on the path the King's ward had been taken on, "Then my room needs cleaning, polish my armour," still there was no response, "then I want to you take a pair of scissors and cut the grass on the tournament ground to the size of my little finger. Merlin, are you listening to me?"

"What, yes? Yes. I look forward to that."

"Cheer up; will you? Morgana's home and you know what that means; don't you? No more riding around on your sore bottom."

Arthur didn't know what it meant to Merlin.

No idea at all.

X

Merlin hadn't slept well. Every couple of hours he'd woken up from another nightmare where Morgana had told Uther of his betrayal. If she chose to tell the King he would surely be killed without second thought or fair trial. Uther would never believe that Morgana had been the centre of a curse set to bring Camelot to the ground.

The one time he'd not woken himself, Gaius had shaken his shoulder, "Merlin, Arthur's requested your presence," he looked serious, scarily so, through Merlin's half closed eyes and fuzzy focus, "in Morgana's chambers."

Merlin gulped. He was done for, he was sure of it.

He made his way slowly down the corridors towards Morgana's chambers, on his way he saw Gwen carrying Morgana's breakfast tray back towards the kitchen. She acknowledged him as he passed but didn't speak.

Merlin didn't announce his presence when he arrived, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to extend his freedom as long as he could; so he listened.

"How did you escape?" The Prince asked the girl he viewed as his sister.

"They moved me about a week ago, I don't know why. It may have been the patrol from Camelot."

"The patrol found you?"

"I thought I was going to be free. But then I saw them killed, every one of them cut down. But that night the bandits were distracted by their spoils. I took my chance. When I saw you I couldn't believe it," Arthur put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. She cried to him, her whimpering seemingly true enough. Merlin didn't know whether to believe her tears. He'd seen her taken by Morgause - her sister - surely she would not have kept that from Morgana? All of this could be part of their greater scheme.

Morgana opened her eyes, suddenly clapping her gaze to Merlin, "I think I need to rest."

"Everything's going to be alright. You're safe now," The prince stood and left Morgana, passing Merlin on his way out of her chambers. The servant made to go after him.

"Merlin," he stopped in his path, "I want to speak to you," Merlin was draw, he didn't trust her. He didn't want to trust her, "I know what you did. You tried to poison me."

"I didn't want to."

"It's alright Merlin, I understand," her smile in that moment scared him; "You were just trying to protect your friends. I would have done the same."

"Really?"

"I was so naïve, Merlin. I don't think I understood what I was doing. But believe me, I have seen the evils of this world, I have seen first hand what Uther fight's against, , you You don't know how much I regret everything that I've done. I just… I hope that you forgive me."

"I am so sorry for everything you've been through," he said, taking her sincerity beneath his belt. He wanted to believe her and she was making it hard not to, "It's good to have you back."

x

Merlin had decided that he had to turn over a new leaf. He needed to trust Morgana and keep on her good side if he was to remain safe. He wanted to believe that she wouldn't tell Uther of what happened. The King would never ask, too happy to have her back.

The servant thought it best to go back to how they were. He needed to show her that he meant her no harm. That he trusted her.

Her door was open as he approached. She had her back to him, blocking whatever she had in her hands from his view.

"Morgana?" he called out, bunch of flowers in his hand. He wanted her to trust him again. If she wasn't going to tell Uther, if she truly understood why he did what he did, then he needed to rebuild the bridge of the friendship they had once had.

"Merlin," she seemed pleased to see him, a smile on her face that looked genuine to Merlin.

"I, uh, I wanted to say thank you, what you said yesterday… well it meant a lot."

"They're beautiful," she said as she sniffed the flowers. Wild flowers, the sort you couldn't get in the castle gardens. "You're so sweet Merlin. You've always been such a good friend. I'll have Gwen find a vase."

In a static moment the pair of them considered the other. There were so many lies, so many crossed lines and so many problems that neither of them would ever be able to fully trust the other again.

"Merlin?" The prince shouted, breaking the moment and forcing the pair of them to the room again. Their thoughts of each other would have to wait for another day.

"You better see what he wants," she smiled at him in thanks again and he gracefully bowed out of the room to find Arthur. Once he was gone her look turned sour, and her hold on the flowers went lax, dropping them to the table without thought.

He was a fool. An idiot of the highest degree.

If he thought she would ever trust him again he had another thing coming.

X

He'd trusted her. He had wanted her to be on their side. He wanted her to have seen the error in Morgause's ways. He had trusted in her to do so. He had been awfully stupid to do so, he knew now. The pair of them working together to bring Uther, and Camelot, down.

Had he not been able to call the Dragon, he would have been dead. A It was a long string of consequences that made his world fall apart but taped it back together again at the same time.

Merlin was walking down one of the corridors in the castle when he suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist and pull him sharply into an alcove.

"I don't know how you managed to escape," Morgana snarled at him, "but I do know one thing, but if you breathe a word of what you saw I will make your life a very short and painful one. Just imagine how Uther would react if he found out a servant had poisoned his beloved ward," these were true colours.

All she had said to him, all she had promised were lies. Out of the window faster than Uther could burn a sorcerer at the stake.

Whatever happened now, Merlin knew she couldn't be trusted. He needed to keep an eye on her.

X

Merlin ran down into the crypt beneath the castle, clapping eyes on Morgana. She turned to face him, confidence on her face along with an acute hatred for every particle of his being, "You should leave now while you still can."

"Morgana, please, I beg you," he pleaded; a large boom sounded above them a sure sign of the destruction being carried out on the castle from the firing trebuchets. He noticed Morgana smiling as he moved around out of her reach, "Women and children are dying and the city will fall."

"Good."

"No, you don't mean that."

"I have magic, Merlin. Uther hates me and everybody like me, why should I feel any differently about him?"

"You of all people can change Uther's mind. But doing this? Using magic like this will only harden his heart!"

"You don't have magic, Merlin, how could you hope to understand?" There was so much he wished he could tell her. He wanted to tell her that he understood. He knew why she was acting this way and that he knew what it was like to hide away from who you were in order to appease the world around you.

"I do understand believe me. If I had your gifts I would harness them for good. That's what magic should be for. That's why you were born with these powers."

"You don't know what it's like to be an outsider! To be ashamed of how you were born; to have to _hide_ who you are!" she paused, they were staring each other down, both breathing deeply as the world above them crumbled, "Do you think I deserve to be executed for who I am?"

"No, but you do for what you're doing! It doesn't' have to be like this," Morgana didn't respond. The look on her face made Merlin think he was getting through to her, even just a little, "We can find another way."

"There is no other way."

Merlin signed, breathing heavily. He knew that she knew that it was a lie. Deep down she had to know that this was the extreme. There was no way she could think that killing the whole of Camelot was the only path she could take.

"What are you going to do, kill me?"

Morgana pulled her sword on him, edging closer to him, poised on her toes ready to strike at any second, "You don't think I can?"

"If you're going to do it, make it quick," without a doubt, Morgana lifted her sword to strike him, swinging for his head. On instinct Merlin held out his hand, his eyes flashed and her momentum was stopped mid-air.

In her shock, Morgana dropped her sword, "How did you do that?"

"You're not the only one with magic, Morgana," she stood before him, stunned to the spot. She didn't dare look away from him for fear he would ruin her plans, "You don't have to do this," Merlin tried, hoping that it would do them some good. He needed to convince her to stop this. This wasn't her. She had been poisoned against the world she knew and used to love. A much more dangerous poison than anything physical.

"There is no other way!"

"Morgana, this isn't you. You've been poisoned by Morgause, by her words and her opinions that this isn't you any more."

"This is _exactly_ who I am! Who you are! How do you sit idle-by and watch Uther kill so many of your own people? He needs to pay for what he's done."

"But does the whole of Camelot? You can punish Uther without innocent people losing their lives! It makes you as bad as him if you don't put a stop to this! If you don't stop this Morgana I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill me? I'd like to see you try. You'll only fail like last time."

"Morgana, stop this. Don't punish Camelot for Uther's wrong doings. We can sort this. _We_ can do it together, just not like this. Innocent people are dying. The Morgana I know wouldn't allow that to happen."

"You don't know me."

"Better than you care to think," his gaze was soft, pleading. Morgana's stony glare pierced through him but slowly faltered, "Please, Morgana. Let me help you," Morgana raised her sword and swung it.

Merlin flinched but the impact never came. With a shout, Morgana set the blade to collide with the staff, breaking it in two. She looked back at him over her shoulder and leant against her sword. She glowered at him and suddenly launched towards him.

Unable to grab the sword from the floor Merlin stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet and landing on the harsh stone of the crypt floor. She swung at him then. On reflex he held out his hand and incanted. Her weapon flew from her hand, the momentum of it making her stumble and fall to the floor.

"It's over Morgana, you've stopped this."

"The war is not over."

"But the battle is done."


End file.
